
Adirondack Coast,
New York, USA
Jason Gerhardt - Co-Director
For over twenty years Jason Gerhardt has professionally practiced and taught ecological design in diverse environments from the hyper-arid US Southwest to underserved neighborhoods in North St. Louis to a refugee community in Central America. Jason’s design portfolio includes academic campus planning, regenerative agriculture site development, organizational strategizing, farmer-accelerator program development, and extensive work with conservation organizations. Jason has taught thousands of students as a faculty member at multiple universities, the US EPA, and dozens of private and public institutions. A developer of land-based enterprises for ecological community development, he holds a BA in Sustainable Design from Prescott College, as well as a Permaculture Diploma in the fields of Site Design, Education, and Research from the Permaculture Institute, Inc., and a Permaculture Diploma in Education from Permaculture Institute of North America.
Jason is an outstanding vegetable grower using human-scale methods, an accomplished agroforestry systems designer, and a renowned ecological water management consultant, often combining all three of these specialties in the design of agroecosystems.
Jason serves as Co-Director of the Permaculture Institute, Inc., and founder of Real Earth Design. His emphasis is at the union of the natural world and human culture. A student of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh for over twenty years, he applies a keen awareness of ecosystems, society, and self to his transformative work connecting people to all life. He is a devoted husband, paddler, writer, and farmer. When not serving his students and professional community, he can be found joyfully immersed at innovative farms, mountain lakes, and cityscapes.
other team members
Raleigh Barnes
Raleigh Barnes is a lifelong gardener who's been planting since a child with his father, mother and sister. He's had the privilege of growing in Texas, Hawaii, Costa Rica and mostly subtropical Florida. Raleigh is a dynamic gardener whose organic principles stretch far beyond that of industry standards. He incorporates permaculture, organic gardening, native gardening,…about RaleighRos McCann
Ros is a Sustainable Communities Professor at Utah State University (USU) where she conducts and publishes research on the permaculture movement, leads the USU permaculture initiative, and teaches permaculture design.about RosDelvin Solkinson
Delvin Solkinson is a community gardener, native plant enthusiast, life-long learner, and teacher from British Columbia, Canada. Collaborating with his wife Grace, a homesteader, herbalist and creative cook, he creates free learning and teaching tools, writes articles and makes videos. He has taught permaculture to thousands of people of different ages and built numerous community…about Delvin